The Environmental Biophysics and Molecular Ecology Program (EBME)

Institute of Marine and Coastal Science building (35201 bytes)

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Funded Projects:
LIFT/LIDAR - NASA
Biocomplexity (EREUPT) - NSF
Cell Death - NIH
GFP Project - ONR
Ocean Productivity - NASA
Iron Limitation - NSF
IR-FRR - NSF
Inorganic Carbon Cycling - US/Israel
BSF
Light Intensity - DOE
Carbon Sequestration - LBNL/DOE
Benthic Targets (CoBOP) - ONR
SoFeX - NSF
Key Phytoplankton Groups (SMP) - NASA
Photoacclimation (US/Czech Republic) - NSF

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Institute Information
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Graduate Program in Oceanography

Special Programs of IMCS:
Project Tomorrow -K-12 Educational Programs
National Undersea Research Program
New Jersey's Shoreline Future - NJ Shore Protection Master Plan

IMCS Research Facilities:

Rutgers Marine Field Station in Tuckerton

Flume and Seawater Facility

Haskin Shellfish Research Lab

Pinelands Research Station

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Contact e-mail
romana@imcs.rutgers.edu

Last updated: 07-12-01

The Environmental
Biophysics & Molecular
Ecology Program

Funded Current Projects

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Representing Key Phytoplankton Groups in Ocean Carbon Cycle Models

Sponsored by: National Aeronautic Space Administration & US J.G.O.F.S.
Project Period: March 15, 1998 - March 14, 2001
Principle Investigator: Paul G. Falkowski
Co-Principle Investigator: Michael J. Behrenfeld
Co-Principle Investigator: Zbigniew S. Kolber

The primary goal of this project is to improve ocean carbon models by describing how physical and chemical forcing affects the statistical distribution of key functional phytoplankton groups. This information is critical in predicting how changes in ocean physics and chemistry will influence total and new production in future ocean model scenarios. The research is coordinated with the Ocean Carbon-cycle Modeling Intercomparison Project (OCMIP), an international project initiated in 1995 by the Global Analysis, Interpretation and Modeling (GAIM) Task Force of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP).

The project focuses on the development of algorithms that predict how ocean physics and chemistry affect the spatial distribution of:

(1) Trichodesmium sp.,the major nitrogen fixing organisms;

(2) diatoms, the major group responsible for export production;

(3) coccolithophores, which, as a consequence of calcification, raise pCO₂; and

(4) the polytaxonomic group of picoplankton, which, while they are the major carbon fixers, contribute little to carbon export.

The statistical distribution of these four functional groups will be analyzed using remotely sensed information in conjunction with sea truth data, and, based on the statistics of their distributions, "functional group profiles" will be generated. The "functional group profiles" give a probability of encountering each of the four groups in each grid cell of an OGCM. Based on these profiles, we can specify physical and chemical criteria that maximize and minimize the distributions of each group, and hence prospectively infer their distributions in climate change scenarios. From knowledge of the distributions of each group, the forcing and feedback between ocean circulation, chemistry and biological processes can be represented much more realistically in ocean general circulation/biogeochemical models.

Animated movie files: Chl_ehux_CB_anim.gif | CritIrr_ehux_cb_anim.gif |
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Environmental Biophysics and Molecular Ecology Program
Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
71 Dudley Road
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Phone: (732) 932-6555
Fax: (732) 932-4083